Chapter Two Ð Bulbasaur's Big Battle

They didn't make it to the Gym. They almost did, but they were intercepted. Ben and Alysha weren't expecting it. They were telling each other about themselves.
"My mother hates children!" Alysha was saying. "I think she's a witch!" Ben laughed out loud.
"My brother used to pick his nose and then eat the bogies!" Ben tried to laugh, but the thought of his brother made him sad. Alysha saw this.
"What happened to your brother? Your mum seemed pretty upset when talking about him."
"He," Ben paused. Was he really prepared to tell this girl that he met yesterday about the most devastating thing that had ever happened to him. "He was a trainer, a good one at that, and one day we were walking andÉ" Ben was interrupted by the captors.
They were from Team Rocket. The giant 'R' on the shirts gave that away. The man on the left was wearing a white uniform, with a black cap, whereas the man on the right was in black with a white cap.
"Well, what do we have here?" the man on the left said in a voice that seemed too nice.
"We're just trainers, we were heading to the Gym, now if you wouldn't mind getting out of the way" Alysha said firmly.
"We weren't talking 'bout you, girly. We meant your Pokemon. So what you got, eh?" The man on the right wasn't afraid to show his mean streak.
"Looks like we got ourselves an Aipom!" The man in white said.
"Worthless!" The other Rocket Grunt spat. He was obviously in charge; he was radiating power. "What's the boy got?"
"Get your hands off of him!" Alysha shouted.
"Do you do all the speaking, or does you boyfriend here speak for himself?" the man in black teased.
"It's a Bulbasaur, John! A biggun too!" So the big guy's name was John.
"Excellent, Wayne. Let's take 'em!" The man called Wayne tried to pick up Bulbasaur, but the grass-type batted his hands away with its vines.
"What?" Wayne cried. "John, these Pokemon are gonna put up a fight!" The man in black sighed.
"Now, kids, we didn't wanna have to do this, but we'll battle you for your Pokemon. An honest double battle." Alysha and Ben gasped. How could this man be so nasty? He probably had really strong Pokemon!
"Depends what Pokemon you got" Ben piped in.
"Well, we'll have one Pokemon each," John paused to think. "So we'll both use our Tyrouge!" John and Wayne both laughed.
Ben turned to Alysha. "If they're both Tyrouge, then they can't be that strong, otherwise they would have evolved" he whispered.
"Yeah, but Aipom. He's a normal-type, what if he gets knocked out?"
"Bulbasaur's a grass-poison-type. Fighting won't do much damage!" Before Alysha could respond, Ben turned to the Rockets and accepted the challenge.
"Excellent!" Wayne chuckled.

The four trainers decided to meet just outside the trainer school. It was nearing the students' break time, so they would get a small crowd.
In fact, the crowd was rather large. Lots of people had heard that Team Rocket was in the area and that a kid had challenged them. Why he hadn't the police, no one knew. But they guessed a rookie against a criminal organisation would be an awesome battle. The crowd were surprised when it turned out to be two trainers against two Rocket Grunts.
John and Wayne made the first move. They both released Tyrouge, and the two pink Pokemon glared at Ben and Alysha. Alysha called Aipom forward and the purple monkey flipped off Alysha's head and landed on the field, balancing on its hand-like tail. It screeched at the two opposing Pokemon.
Ben called Bulbasaur and the small grass-type bounded onto the field tossing its head and growling quietly. Bulbasaur was scared. He really didn't think he could beat the trained Tyrouge. And he heard what happens if he loses, he has to go with the scary men. Bulbasaur was just a house-Pokemon; a coward.
One of the students who was part of the Violet City Pokemon Academy volunteered to be the referee. He seemed to know what he was doing. His introduction was professional enough.
"Let the battle for keeps betweenÉ"
"Ben and Alysha!" Ben called out.
"Right, sorry," the boy said quietly. "Ben and Alysha and these two Rocket GruntsÉ" The boy looked at both sides. He raised his hands above his head. "ÉCommence!" He threw his hands down and the Rockets made the first move again.
"Lee, use Fake Out on Aipom!" John commanded. The Tyrouge named Lee ran at Aipom and slapped it round the face before Aipom had a chance to jump out of the way.
"Chan!" Wayne called to his own Tyrouge. "Copy Lee!" Chan did the same thing, except Ben intervened.
"Bulbasaur, protect Aipom!" Bulbasaur dived in front of Aipom at just the right time. He took the hit was left to roll on the floor in pain, like Aipom.
The crowd gasped at the foolish heroics of Ben and Bulbasaur.
"Not smart, kid" John said.
"Yeah, now your Pokemon are defenseless!" Wayne called. "This gives us a chance to do this! Chan, Helping Hand!" Chan ran over to Lee and crouch down behind him.
"Lee, Tackle Bulbasaur!" As Lee jumped up, Chan channeled his energy and pushed it towards Lee. The force carried Lee faster, which meant that the Tackle Attack had extra power.
Like Wayne said before, Bulbasaur could do nothing but take the hit. The Tackle flipped Bulbasaur back onto his feet and now he was ready to attack. Aipom also managed to flip himself upright.
"Make Aipom go first," Ben said Alysha. "I think I have a plan." Alysha nodded.
"Aipom, use your Scratch Attack!" Aipom responded by using its tail as a spring and launching itself at Lee. As it was about to land on him, Aipom released his claws and began scratching at Lee. Lee shook the monkey off and threw him back to Alysha. He landed on his tail.
"Bulbasaur, Leech Seed Lee!" Bulbasaur put his front legs on the floor so his bottom was sticking up in the air. The massive bulb on his back opened up and spat tiny brown seeds in Lee's direction. The seeds landed at his feet.
"You missed!" John called out in triumph. Ben just winked at him as the seeds grew vines. They wrapped themselves around the Tyrouge and began glowing red. Lee screamed in pain as the Leech Seed sucked out his energy. John gasped. "Wayne, do something!"
"Right! Chan, Tackle that Aipom!" Chan did just that, except Alysha commanded Aipom to use Tail Whip. The defensive move became an offensive as the Tyrouge was sent flying back to its own side of the field. Aipom landed from its three-sixty spin and laughed. He was having a great time.
Lee's energy was still being sapped. "Bulbasaur, finish Lee with your Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur shot vines out of his bulb and ensnared Lee once again. He then began unraveling the vines very quickly, causing the Tyrouge to go into a dizzy spin. Bulbasaur then began whipping the Tyrouge until it eventually fell over; it was out cold.
John's jaw dropped. A rookie had beaten him. There was no way that Wayne could finish this on his own. John hung his head in shame. He had failed Team Rocket. He had to train some more.
"Tyrouge is unable to battle!" the adjudicator called. "John is out!" The crowd whooped and hollered.
Ben soaked it all up. He liked the trainer lifestyle. He would one day be famous and every battle of his would be like this! "Well done Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur shouted its name to the sky and did a small back flip on the spot.
"Aipom, use Scratch!" Aipom charged at the only opponent on the field and scratched at its face.
"Bulbasaur, finish with a Tackle!" Bulbasaur obeyed Ben and ran full speed at Chan. He head butted the fighting-type and sent him flying into the Pokemon Academy wall. The impact made a loud bang and everyone gasped.
Ben and Alysha had won! The high-fived and hugged each other, quickly releasing each other after they realised that they were hugging. They were both bright red. Bulbasaur and Aipom did a little dance and ran back to their trainers screeching and shouting. The whole front of the Academy was full of cheering students and a few teachers.
John and Wayne and returned their Pokemon and legged it. They weren't going to face defeat honourably; it wasn't the Rocket way.
But then it all changed. The happiness turned to horror when Ben's mum came to see what all the noise was, and she was with Alysha's mum.
Ben pointed them out first. Alysha cursed when she saw her mother and ran for the Pokemon Center on the other side of the City.
Once they were there, Nurse Joy took Bulbasaur and Aipom and checked them over. She then did all the necessary procedures such as washing them and spraying them with potions and elixirs to revive HP and PP.
"Bulbasaur kicked butt!" Alysha laughed. "That was a big battle for Bulbasaur. The first ones always are."
Ben nodded and looked down at the sleeping creature on his lap. "I guess that was Bulbasaur's big battle, wasn't it?" Ben and Alysha laughed. They had escaped their mothers and were really getting ready to leave town. Alysha was making the preparations and Ben was getting ready for his Gym battle. He bought all the items he would need: Potions, Ethers, Antidotes and a few Paralyz Heals. The only key ingredient left was to train, and that would begin as soon as Bulbasaur was awake. He had done exceptionally well, and needed his rest for now.

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FoxesPlayingBanjos 2010

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